The Seagull at the Odéon, Théâtre de l’Europe, from November 7 to December 22, 2024

After nearly 30 years of theater management, Stéphane Braunschweig decides to devote himself fully to his artistic work from now on.

He presents on the boards of the Odeon, Chekhov’s The Seagull,a play that he already directed in 2001. He explains the genesis of this new creation:

“The desire came to me when I mounted Uncle Vanya with Russian actors in 2019-20, with an ecological perspective in mind. I wanted to bring to the fore the somewhat premonitory vision of Tchekhovwhich combines in this piece the destruction of nature, and that of the characters among themselves. In Vaniait really takes a look at the destructiveness of humans. It made me think again of the little room Treplev In The Seagull. It is often shown as a kind of bizarre, avant-garde, or symbolist artistic performance, paying more attention to its form than to its content. But what is she saying? That we are heading towards the disappearance of all life on earth, towards the extinction of species, towards a collapse. And we also understand that Treplev links this annihilation to the reign of materialism…”

Stéphane Braunschweig brings his vision to the piece Tchekhov :

“Instead of playing the little play of Treplev within the large room TchekhovI said to myself that we could play the play of Tchekhov in the decor imagined by Treplev – so that, instead of being forgotten or repressed, this vision of Treplev remains present, in afterglow. Even when the characters no longer think about it at all, the setting continues to make it exist, and we spectators continue to think about it. »

The world of Tchekhovit is a Russian empire on the verge of collapse. In this suspended society, that of more or less penniless landowners in the middle of a miserable Russia, some throw themselves headlong into love or art, others retreat into cynicism, others still choose indifference.

Pour Stéphane Braunschweig, it is:

“…raise the question on youth, confronted with a generation which, likeArkadinathe mother of Treplev“never think about old age or death” and makes it a rule to “never look into the future”. The room of Treplev asks the question of what it is to be 20 years old in a world where the future appears so dark. Should we take it tragically? Become a nihilist? Live with it? And what does it mean to make art with this question of ecological catastrophe, as in many artistic proposals today? »

►►► Distribution

· D’Anton Tchekhov
· Direction and scenography: Stéphane Braunschweig
· With Sharif Andoura, Jean-Baptiste Anoumon, Boutaïna El Fekkak, Denis Eyriey, Thierry Paret, Ève Pereur, Lamya RegraguiMuzio, Chloé Réjon, Jules Sagot, Jean-Philippe Vidal
· Translation : André Markowicz, Françoise Morvan
· Artistic collaboration: Anne-Françoise Benhamou
· Collaboration on the scenography: Alexandre de Dardel
· Costumes : Thibault Vancraenenbroeck
· Light : Marion Hewlett
· Son : Xavier Jacquot